ISD #423 School Board Meeting November 10th, 2025

001Call the meeting to order. November 10th, regular school board meeting. Roll call. All members present, excluding Aaron Kudson. Rise for the pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation andice for all. on to public comment. Is there anyone from the public that would like to come up and speak on an agenda item? All right. Seeing none onto the consent agenda. Is there any items board member wish to remove? If not, I would accept a motion to approve consent agenda. So moved. Motion by. Is there a second? >> Second by Henowski. All in favor say I. >> I. Agenda passed. Student highlight Nor. >> Um, good evening everyone. I want to start off by introducing my new junior partner, Elanor Norard, sorry. >> Hi everyone. Good evening. My name

002is Elanor Bernard and I'm excited to be here tonight as the 2026 2027 student representative. I'm involved in a few activities at the high school, including student council, unified club, key club, tennis, and golf. Um, I'm looking forward to learning from Ava this year and yeah, >> thank you. >> Thanks, Elanor. Um, it's been a bit of a slower time at HHS as we transition from fall into winter, but there's still plenty happening around the building. For example, our fall musical, Water for Elephants, recently wrapped up, and it was a great success. It was a showcase of student talent and teamwork from both crew and cast members. Winter sports are now getting underway. Most teams have finished their captain's practices and are now officially starting their seasons as of today. Girls hockey kicked things off

003already with a strong coral win over Princeton. Last night, we held our National Honor Society induction ceremony. It was a wonderful evening celebrating students who truly embody leadership, scholarship, service, and character. And finally, tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11th at 8:30 at the high school, we will host our annual Veterans Day program. You're welcome to attend. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> All right, Tiger time. Mr. Cheetah. Good evening everyone. Um, every year the each uh member of the state high school gets to name two juniors to what was called the XL award. And uh Ava got it last year. So um it's juniors who are um both in activities but also um participate in at least one league sponsored activity. They hold leadership positions in the school. Uh those are the keys and then you

004know obviously we're going to look at their school performance also. So I'd like to bring out my young people here tonight because I want them to introduce themselves. So we are able to name both a male and a female. And so this year our male uh is Matthew Ortoff. >> Hi. So my name is Matthew Ort and I'm a junior at HHS. Um, I'm currently a three sport athlete playing football, basketball, and baseball. Um, I was just admitted to National Honor Society last night and I'm serving as one of the four uh, captains for basketball this year. And after uh, high school, I plan to attend college and major in something related to sports medicine and I'm truly honored to be recipient of this award. Thank you. >> And our female is Isabella Berw. Hi,

005I'm Isabelle Berthium. I play hockey, golf, and soccer. I'm a captain in hockey and an upcoming captain for soccer. And I got inducted to the NHS last night. And my plans after high school is to attend college out east and major in biology to go PA route or doctor route while hopefully playing hockey. >> Thank you guys. uh both outstanding students and leaders in our school. So, congratulations to them. Now, what the process is there, we'll fill out an application um that we submit to the state high school league and then they get put into that process if they get chosen. Um for example, two years ago, Caitlyn Ronnie was chosen to go to the state level. They get state recognition and then they get introduced at a basketball game during the state tournament on

006television. So, it's kind of a fun experience. So, those two have that opportunity when they So, I tell them they have to do a really good job on their applications because, you know, they're rock stars, but there's a lot of rock stars. So, uh good luck to them. Um uh the second award that we're uh allowed to to give out each year is the AAA award, and that's for seniors, which the AAA is arts, academics, and athletics. So, the student has to be involved in all three phases to be able to be uh nominated for this award. Unfortunately, after looking through, we did not find a male student this year that fit all of those criteria, unfortunately. So, uh we do not have a male representative this year. Um so, we do have a female

007and she's a great candidate. And so, our female AAA award winner is Naomi Sikman. >> Hi, I'm Naomi Sikman. I'm at volleyball and track and field. I also do club volleyball and I work part time at Target. Um, I'm also in band choir ever since elementary school and this past year I was a varsity captain for volleyball and my freshman and sophomore year I was a leader at my church's vacation bible school. Um, I'm not too sure exactly where I want to go to college next year, but I know I want to go somewhere with for like social work or somewhere in medicine. And yeah, >> thank you. [applause] >> TripleA is a little different at the how it it it plays out. So each section and there's eight double A sections and eight single

008A sections. She will be our school nominee to the our section which is two doubleA. Um she [snorts] could win there and if she wins there then she can be she can go to the state level and she could win at the state level. Uh my first year here, Nolan Pro will made it through uh to the state AAA banquet, which is a kind of a cool opportunity up at the uh fancy hotel in downtown Minneapolis, and they also get introduced at the state basketball tournament. So um they only have an opportunity to to have that recognition. So congratulations to her. Um the girls did compete in the section swim and dive meet um this past Thursday and Saturday. And um do you have that on there or not? I got it. >> Oh, okay.

009So, uh, we had Julia Rudabush qualified for state in the 200 freestyle. She finished in fifth place. Michaela Wakefield qualified for the 100 meter backstroke. She finished at second place. And then our 200 meter medley relay finished in third place. So, they qualified. So, that's that relay is Michaela Wakefield, Marsha Mardig, uh, Maggie Witty, and Nora Mach. So, they will compete this Friday in the preliminaries and if they make it through, then they will compete on Saturday in the finals. Um, it's also our Special Olympics bowling team will be participating this Friday at the state bowling tournament in uh Brooklyn's Center. So, if you're around on Friday morning, we'll be doing a sendoff for both Special Olympics and uh the swim and dive team at 7:30 in the morning before classes start. So, you're more

010than welcome to attend and uh and then they'll get let out of town by the fire truck. So, everybody likes that experience. So, 7:30 on Friday. Now, I just want to catch up on uh the state high school league. If you remember last year, we talked about the fact that the state high school league was uh uh going to change their governance from a 10 through 12 to a 9 through 12. Um that passed and so that is now in play for this year. So their insurance, catastrophic insurance, um concussion insurance, all is works through grades 9 through 12. So, um, we every fall we have to go to an area meeting and they kind of update us on certain things and a lot of it was related to that and, uh, and so we,

011when we were there, the state high school league, uh, kind of gave us an update on certain things with the change into ninth grade. um it's going to impact how we run some of our programs because we have programs that actually we have seventh and eighth graders who compete and well what happens is now that ninth grade so let's say we had a seventh grader on the ninth grade team in the past that wasn't a state high school league activity it didn't matter now it does so to create a a way to make sure we don't have eligibility issues >> we have as a conference decided that for our sports um we're going to call them C teams instead of middle school teams. That way they can move move fluidly between those levels without creating

012any issues of ineligibility. So those four sports, one doesn't apply to us because we don't have gymnastics, but the other ones are wrestling, cross country, and then track and field. So, uh we'll see changes in those. the rest of our middle school programs for the most part can stay the same because they just don't have that movement between uh the programs. So that's one of the biggest things that came out of that. So, and then I think this is helpful, but the state high school every two years takes our enrollment and then they re reassign where we are potentially whether we could move up a class, drop down a class or move to a different section. Well, every two years that happens, but the problem is with football that they were taking forever to tell

013us what our football schedule was. like we were going to be told in June what our football schedule was going to be for this year. Well, homecoming is kind of a big deal for a lot of things as far as scheduling goes. And so it was very frustrating to not get a schedule. And so the state high school is actually looking into taking a three-year average and instead of waiting so long, take a three-year average and then use that to make these decisions about classes and then we would get a football schedule much sooner. So, that's something they're considering doing right now. Um, it would be very helpful. Uh, and they said in the research they had done, there's only eight schools out of the state that would be like their enrollment would have wavered

014from that three-year average, a significant difference. So, they felt most people feel that's that should be fine. So, they're they're going to keep moving forward that. And then also which I think can have an impact is um baseball and softball. The state high school league approved an increase in the games that they can play which is to 24. Um which in Minnesota in the spring it's hard enough to get 20 in. So we'll see if we can get 24 in. But those are kind of the things that are in place right now. >> I've just got one question going [clears throat] back to use wrestling as an example. Seventh grade wrestler playing up with the ninth graders, >> how does the insurance cover those students? >> So, what we're doing is we are certifying all

015of our 7 through 12 wrestlers, so they'll all be considered high school eligible wrestlers. >> Okay? >> That's the best way we can do it. Wrestling [clears throat] is going to be a I don't know how familiar you are with wrestling, but wrestling is going to be the trickiest one in this transition because they've had a thing called ninth grade league, >> which is basically lived independently, >> but now that ninth grade as part of the state high school league. They can't. And so I uh just to give you an example, uh ACGC offers a seven through9 wrestling tournament. Well, we're going to certify all of our wrestlers. That means when they go there, they had can only wrestle certified wrestlers. >> So I've reached out to them and they said, "Yep, they're doing it

016the same way." So that's that's how we're going to make sure we live within that. But their their wrestling opponents would be determined by class and weight, not age. Or is age still >> the lower levels, they tend to use weight more, but I mean overall, yes, it's going to be based on your weight class. We have seventh graders that could wrestle a 12th grader. >> Y >> and that that would happen and they would fall under coverage. >> Yep. >> MSH. >> Yep. >> Exactly. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. On to our 2025 audit report. Miss Bowl, would you like to introduce this? >> Sure. Good evening. Justin McGra with CDS is here to present 2025 audited results. So, he'll walk us through that from an independent audit perspective. >> Yeah. Good

017evening. I'm Justin McGra with CDS, the district's auditors, and I'm here tonight to present to you your June 30th, 2025 audit reports. Uh, and we gave you a fruit products when we came in. Um, the thicker bound document is actually actually your financial statements themselves. All the information that I'm going to cover tonight is is explained in greater detail in there. Uh, the format I'm going to follow is this one without a cover. Uh, it's a summation of, uh, our audit results. So, um, and if I'm going through this and you have questions as I'm going through some of this, just stop, feel free to stop me and raise your hand and, uh, we'll get your questions answered. Uh, so I'll jump right in. Uh, pages one, pages two, it gives you an idea of

018what our independent audit report is. The it outlines responsibilities of both parties, us as your auditor, you as the audit. Um, and it describes the intent for audit, which is determine if your financial statements are free from material misstatement and the standards that we follow uh, to come to that conclusion. The big takeaway is on page two at the top there. And big bold letters, your fin statements are presented fairly in our opinion. They can be relied upon for gauging performance of the district as well as for future decision-making purposes. So if you don't remember anything else I tell you tonight, please remember that one. [clears throat] On page three, we jump into the numbers. Uh starting with the statement of net position. Uh we look at it at two points in time. Uh June

01930th, 2025, June 30th, 2024. So you can see where your balances were and the changes between those two years. Starting at the top, current non-c capital assets. These are primarily your cash balances, um, receivable balances, amounts owed to you from other, uh, local governments, uh, school districts, the state, the federal government. And you can see here you had a decrease in your current non-c capital assets. A lot of that is related to a decrease in your cash balances. Um, you had bond proceeds sitting in your debt service fund or excuse me, your construction capital project fund, your construction fund. [snorts] Uh, that that got spent in 2025 as construction continued. [snorts] And then [clears throat] conversely, right below it, capital assets. These are your buildings, your infrastructure, equipment. Uh, you had an increase in your

020capital assets as uh that those additions you had during the year of converting that cash into a physical asset uh outpaced the depreciation of your current existing outstanding assets. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> deferred outflows of resources, deferred inflows of resources. These are largely led to your your pension liability through the public employee retirement association and the teachers retirement association. Um the changes you're seeing there are due to amateization of uh changes and and actuarial assumptions between the two periods. Um so that's largely out of the district's control. It is really based on performance of uh per investments and their projected liability. Um, moving to the bottom half, your liabilities, current liabilities. These are think your routine bills, accounts payable, salaries, wages payable, uh, and contracts payable are also a part of that line item

021there. Uh, you had a slight increase in your current liabilities in the current year. Um, largely due to amounts owed to other governments and and unearned revenue. So, uh, for revenues where maybe the district received the cash but hasn't incurred the expenditure yet to recognize that revenue. Uh, then your long-term liabilities. These are primarily your debt balances, that pension liability balance, uh other post-employment benefit liabilities, uh and compensated absences. Those are uh kind of the main items you see in that compensated or long-term liability balance. Uh you did have a decrease in 2025. You know, you didn't didn't issue any new debt in 25. You continue to make your your scheduled debt payments throughout the year. Uh so the expectation was that balance would go down and it and it did here in 2025. Then

022at the very bottom, uh the net position. So if you could pay off all your debts of the district and and sell all your assets, this is what you would have left over. Uh a lot of it is invested in your capital assets, the buildings, the equipment here within the district. Uh but you do have restricted fund balance as well that uh it's either from outside sources restricting what those funds can and cannot be spent on. And then your unrestricted net position which has a fairly large negative unrestricted net position that is a result of um your pension liability through both per the TRA other post-employment benefit liabilities and and your compensated absences or leaves the district has available to its employees. And if you remove uh you know like the pension liability, your other

023post-employment benefit liability, these are liabilities, you'll probably never have to write a check for. You know, once you send your uh pension contributions to both public employee retirement association, the teachers retirement association, that liability to pay those benefits to retirees largely resides with them. You are secondarily liable. So that's why it's showing up here on your balance sheet. Uh but if you remove some of those items um from that unrestricted net position calculation, you're you're sitting at about an $ 8.4 million positive balance in your unrestricted net position, which is very good uh for a district of your size. And this is all funds, all activities, all operations, all programs rolled up in one slide at one point in time. [snorts] On page four, we look at the individual funds starting with the general fund.

024The general fund is the main operating fund of the district. This does include funds one, the operating fund, three and five, the capital fund, uh, and just a kind of a 10-year window of where your fund balance was sitting in that general fund. And some of the changes you see here in 2025, you did have increases in your restricted fund balances in areas like operating capital, long-term facility maintenance, uh, medical assistance, uh, and quality compensation. Those are all areas that saw an increase in that restricted fund balance that have restrictions on the use of those funds. uh and your assigned fund balance did decrease in 2025 uh as funds were spent down for acquisition of the bus terminal and uh yeah sorry acquisition of that bus terminal that was purchased here in 2025. Uh on

025page five this is a a calculation of a metric we like to use as auditors and what we like to look at is that general fund unrestricted fund or unassigned fund balance. [snorts] Uh how does it measure in in months worth of expenditures? If the general fund's unrestricted resource flows or revenues dried up, how far could it keep producing services at that level uh without further revenues? And you can see here there's a lot of numbers on there, but essentially you have about 3 months worth of expenditures sitting in your general fund uh unassigned fund balance uh to carry forward, which is in line with the district's policy. on page six uh enrollment of the district. And we look at this not only 25 but the prior four years and then projected out here into

0262026. So you can see uh where those student numbers are, those people numbers. Uh there's a a lot of variables that can impact uh enrollment within the school district, open enrollment, charter schools, homeschooling, students being serviced outside the district. you did have a slight decrease in 2025 about 3% or excuse me uh just about 2% and then looking ahead to 2026 you're looking at about another 3% projected decrease uh in those student numbers and that is student numbers are important because a lot of state funding is based on enrollment and we'll look at general funds revenue expenditures here uh in a few slides so you can see the impact uh that that can have [clears throat] on page seven excuse me [snorts] uh look at those revenues and expenditures of the general fund where they've

027been not only in 25 but the prior four years. Uh you can see here um your revenues outpac your expenditures in 2025 by just under a million dollars. Uh and we'll look at the individual components of the re uh revenues and expenditures on the next few slides. Uh but looking out ahead for 2026, you're projected to have a slight deficit in that general fund spending uh where expenditures will overtake the revenues here uh going forward. Then on page eight now looking at the revenues of the general fund uh we look at this by source. So, where does the general fund get the money that it's spending? Uh, state sources have historically been the largest source of revenue for most school districts. That's no change here uh for Hutchinson. Uh, but you did have some changes

028in those sources uh between the years, particularly from 24 into 25. Uh, you know, local property taxes, you had a slight increase there. Uh, that was reflected in your levy. So, not a big surprise to see increases in those property taxes. State state [snorts] sources, um, the big increase you see there is is special education funding. Um littering incentive aids also was a higher in 2025 compared to 2024. Uh your federal sources did decrease um there's a lot of pandemic funding available uh in the probably really from 21 through 24 you've largely spent that down. Most of those funds funding sources have sunseted. Uh so you're kind of coming back down to more of a I guess I'd say a normal level of federal funding and we'll see what happens uh with at the federal

029level going forward. Uh but that's where you ended up as of June 30th, 2025. And then your other revenue um you know, you had increases in revenue from other Minnesota district services provided to them. Medical assistance revenue did increase quite a bit too. That's recorded in that other revenue category. So that's what you're seeing there with some of the increases uh in that revenue source. Uh expenditures on page nine. Uh so we look at this all those revenues we just talked about the general funds are bringing in. What is it being spent on? uh like most school districts, salaries and benefits are your largest line item uh on your income statement. [clears throat] And you had an increase in salaries and benefits in 2025. You also had an increase in your capital spending uh in

0302025. I touched on in that um uh the fund balance slide about the change in your assigned fund balance. Uh portion of that decrease was due to purchase of a bus terminal. Well, that's a capital expenditure. So, you're seeing the the increase in your expenditures on that side. uh yet a a a pretty healthy decrease. In the other category, it's kind of a catch-all, miscellaneous category, your special funding situation or uh credit you get for contributions the state makes to uh both the public employers retirement association and the teachers retirement association. You didn't have uh funding at that level in 2024. So, you didn't have that large expense um recorded in your books here at the end of the year. Then [clears throat] on page 10, moving away from the general fund, some of the

031other funds of the district, the building construction fund. It's a capital project fund. The purpose of a capital project fund is to capture all the revenues, other financing sources, and expenditures related to larger capital projects. Um, so you have this cap building construction fund. You can see here where that fund balance has been over the years. Typically, the way they operate is when you have a debt issuance, that fund balance goes way up. As you got this cash sitting there, then as construction continues, it slowly dwindles down. And you saw that here uh in 2025 as the bomb proceeds from 2024 were spent down uh to quite a large extent here at the end of 2025. [snorts] Uh food service fund. Food service fund is a special revenue fund. It serves a specific purpose of

032accounting for all the activity related to that nonprofit food service fund. Um and you had a decrease in the fund balance in 2025. Um, a lot of that is capital related. Kitchen equipment purchases that were made in 2025 are spending down that fund balance. And the food service fund is a is a unique fund and that it's supposed to run at somewhat of a break even point. You do have limits on what that um that fund balance can be. It's 6 months of net cash reserves. Uh, six months worth of expenditures of net cash reserves, excuse me. Um, so uh you're well below that margin. Uh, and I would say, you know, most school districts with the um expansion of the state funding for the food service programs, they're finding that the cost to provide

033a meal is is less than what they're getting reimbured for. So, most fund balances are are sitting in a pretty healthy spot and they're able to weather uh any any equipment needs, change in operations, uh increases in in food prices, things like that. >> Can I ask a question about that in particular? >> Yeah. Um so the numbers you're giving us are post 2020 uh the pandemic. >> Um what would you want as the auditor to see our number become over like in five years? >> So for the food service fund specifically >> you know I would say that two to three month range. So six months is you can't go over six months per the department of education, right? >> That's a a temporary change from the co era. Uh it used to be

034three months. So that two to three months is kind of that sweet spot you want to be at. And you used to have a lot of power in controlling that fund balance by meal prices. So if your fund balance is getting too high, you could lower your increases on your meal prices as expenditures caught up. Um, now with the state funding a lot of your revenues for meals, uh, it doesn't have the dramatic impact that it used to have. Uh, so that's just one thing. You know, you're well below it. You're, uh, food service fund. I, I mean, I think you're in less than a month right now. Um, so you're not in danger of going over that uh, six temporary six-month um, requirement for three months. You're not in danger of going over that

035right now. I would say I would shoot for that two to three month. um probably closer to two just to give yourself a little wiggle room in case those state revenues keep coming in at a higher level than it cost to serve a meal. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> And then the community service fund, another special revenue fund for all the community service activities that take place around the district. Uh this one has has been a pretty good story of uh steadily increasing that fund balance. Uh and that's no change here in 2025. Some sustainable increases in that fund balance as you you had you had budgeted for larger capital expenditures in that fund. They didn't materialize here in 2025. So, you're seeing an increase uh in that overall fund balance of that fund.

036This fund doesn't have any fund balance restrictions like the food service fund would have. [clears throat] And the last fund is the debt service fund. Uh the debt service fund its main purpose is to pay the debts of the school district. You did have an increase in that fund balance in 2025. uh that increase is largely reflective of the increase in your debt service payments uh that you you know you taking out new debt in 2024 that adds debt to um to your balances to be paid going forward. Uh and you know you have to levy more than your debt service payments less any state aids you get uh to make that payment. So the expectation is that'll slowly increase until your debts start getting paid off more and then you won't need to levy

037as much going forward. [clears throat] All right. Then page 14. So, in addition to auditing the balances of the school district, we audit compliance with a few different rulemaking bodies, if you will. First one being the state of Minnesota. So, we look at uh the district's compliance with things like conflicts of interest, contracts and bidding, depository of public funds. Uh and we we're happy to report we came across no issues of non-compliance through our testing. So, that usually tells us as a couple different things. Uh one that your team here makes uh knows what those laws are and two they're making sure they're being followed. So, and it's not easy to do with the amount of capital activity and the contract bidding requirements around that. So, really hats off to your entire administrative team here

038for making sure those laws are are known and and they're being enforced. Uh, the second one [clears throat and cough] is government auditing standards and we look at internal control or how financial information flows through the school district from the time maybe a bill comes in the mail to the time a check goes out in the mail. Uh, we have two items on here that if you you've heard me speak before, you've probably heard me talk about them. One of them is limited segregation of duties and one of them is auditor prepared financial statements. So with the auditor prepared financial statements, so while the product you have in front of you is it's all derived from your financial information, we put it into that format with the required disclosures uh and the required reports. Uh

039so we have to disclose that to you. Uh the limited segregation of duties. Uh this is one that's not uncommon for school districts of your size to have uh a deficiency like that just with a limit on the number of people uh you can have in that in that financial recording process or that transaction. Uh sometimes that cost benefit of adding more staff isn't worth um mitigating some of that risk that come with having a smaller office staff. So I like to use that as an opportunity to remind you at your level. You know I saw the claims were listed up on the board here earlier today. um you're another set of eyes, another check and balance in that process. So if you see an unusual [snorts] vendor or unusual amount that you don't recognize,

040uh you can be you can help mitigate the risk that comes with limited segregation duties by by asking those questions. And then on page 15, so we issued another document to you. It's the thinner uh bound document with the cover. Uh and that's we call it a management letter, but really it's a letter from us as auditors to you at the governor's level. Let you know how that audit went. Any uh change in your accounting practices, difficulties we encountered, disagreements with your management team or have a report? None. And you know, it's not we ask a lot of your full-time staff here, but it's not just them. We ask a lot from the county, the state, uh your banks, your vendors, your engineers, architects. Uh so we we do ask a lot from a lot

041of people to get us to this point tonight. We're happy to report everybody is very helpful and cooperative in our throughout our audit. So we want to thank them for all their support um in getting us to the point where we can be here tonight to deliver an audit report. [clears throat] And then the very last slide on 16 is my contact information. So, if you're looking through some of this stuff in your free time and you think, I I wish I would have asked Justin this or I should have asked them that, feel free to call or email or uh we do have I work out of the Lfield office. So, if you're ever in Lfield, feel free to stop by. So, um with that, thank you again for having us out to to

042help out with the audit. And um if there's any questions, I'll take them at this time. >> Don't run away yet. >> Not going not going anywhere. Are you guys ruminating over there or not? >> Can you turn to this book, page 17, or do you have a copy? >> No, I can. I got it. Page 17. >> Yes. >> Third paragraph. Can you say that more in plain English to me about the state shifting and then in talking about our district how we are more I'm going to use not the words you have in here but more reliant on state funding than um taxpayers. >> Yeah. >> Way of saying that local taxpayers excuse me. So can you just break this down for me a little bit dumber? >> Absolutely. I will say this

043management discussion analysis is something you're that gives your team a voice in the financial statements. So, uh, this is largely their work, but I can explain the tax shift to you. Yeah. And in the sense that the it's I'm not going to call it an accounting trick by the state of Minnesota, but essentially they're shifting the burden of recognizing revenue uh either to the district or away from the district to balance their books. Um, so what will happen is you may you may issue a levy or you may have approved your levy uh and the state will say no don't recognize all that revenue yet or recognize additional revenue this year to make up for either a shortfall or uh what do I call it? Um an an overallocation of state funds to the school

044district. So, they're using your property tax levy to um I'm not going to say balance the books, but to cover their portion of revenue that they're not going to be able to get to you either to the following year or they're going to prepay you this year, if that makes sense. It's it's tough to um uh justify it, I think sometimes, and how they're moving numbers around. Uh but that's essentially what's that doing that that's what that tax shift is doing. Um, so when they when they pull revenue, state revenue from you, they require you to make it up by recognizing your next year's levy early. When they have additional revenue for you, they'll shift part of this year's revenue into the the future period for your tax levy. So, [snorts] in plain English, you

045are saying that at the state level, they're kind of holding on to some of our district's money. >> Essentially, >> thank you. >> What they're Yeah. What they're doing is they're saying, "We don't have the funds to pay you right now. Recognize your tax revenue early. We'll pay you back in the future." Or if they have additional funds to say, "We want to give you this now. Push your levy to the future. Recognize it then when you need it." Do we get to charge them interest? >> I don't think that >> No, it's a serious question. Like is do we get to charge them anything or not? >> No, they don't pay interest. >> All right. [snorts] So, >> wait. And then second, over the years you've done this, have has a district like ours

046ever been flushed with the state government like they have paid us all that back? >> I think they started doing this I don't know before my time even out of high school. uh they've been using this accounting trick to move funds between years to balance their their budget at the state level. I think 2001 maybe if [snorts] I go back that far. So since 2001 we have not had control over all of our money is >> at a point in time you have um but I guess I would say you still have control over your money but as far as what you're recognizing as revenue to offset your expenditures uh has been dictated in part by the state's ability to pay you their state aids. You're making more questions with you two over there. >>

047So, what you're saying is when the state doesn't really pay us, >> they they eventually pay you. >> Yeah. >> But if they have a shortfall, they'll pay you later. >> Okay. I'm getting to my point. >> Yeah. >> I don't have a point yet. I'm still trying to figure this out yet. Is >> we get all our money from the state. I'm trying to not pigeon hole you into something, but would you characterize this school, this district as not a high is it referendum or what do we do around here? V operating money in comparison to sizes. >> Thank you. That's why I was trying to find the word is >> approved. >> Can you say that one more time? What I'm trying how this report reads is that this school district has managed

048its expenses very closely to what the state is funding us. This is how I read that statement is that if that's unique, not unique for our school or in Minnesota. That's just how I'm reading it. So I'm trying to >> that's a good questioning questions how that statement reads. >> Yeah. And that that's a really good question. You know, you look I touched on that fund balance slide of that general fund fund balance. So that your unassigned fund balance is kind of what you have control of as a board. Um and a lot a good way to to manage it is through your your property tax levy. Yeah. >> Right. And you said you want to be at 3%. You want to keep your expenditures at a reasonable level without reducing services. Um and then

049you want to be at three months worth of expenditures in that in that um general fund unassigned fund balance. So when I see you you that's your policy. I see you meeting that policy. I see you're I I could come to the conclusion that you're doing it through um managing those operating costs with your capital needs and and your property tax. While it did increase, it was a pretty minor increase here in 2025. Um doing it without impacting, I guess, the local voters as much as some of our other districts that we do see. Uh that might be a timing thing just with most of our audit clients are seeing um a need to go out for an operate operating referendum. I think there was almost 100 districts that just did it last week. Um

050so it it may be that those expenditures aren't coming at that level yet. Uh especially with settled contracts uh any increase in capital needs that I I don't have a crystal ball to tell you. Um, but I would say you looking at where your fund balance is sitting, that relatively minor increase in your property tax levy. Uh, and as far as the the quality of services that the district's providing, I haven't heard of any issues. So, it seems like you're meeting that goal that you set out to meet by, uh, establishing those policies within the district. >> Got it. So, you're saying it's somewhat important to keep close to our fund balance what we've been practicing based on how our revenue streams are working. >> I would say >> and based on state politics. >>

051Not trying to I know you're not running for office, so just I'm trying to not be funny, but I'm trying to get a lot of pretty clear picture here. >> And you know, the thing that concerns me, obviously, the state had a very large uh surplus at one point in time. Now, they're looking at a very large deficits. Historically, they've balanced their budgets on the backs of counties, cities, and schools. >> Yeah. >> So, while your state aid has been up, is it always going to stay that way? I don't know. Same thing with the federal aid and the government has been shut down. >> What it's going to take to get it back to open, I don't know that as well, right? >> Um, so really those sources are open to being changed relatively

052quickly and and unexpectedly. So, those are the ones I would worry about. Um, going back to your your property tax living in that fund balance, you know, being able to meet that threemonth goal, uh, gives you a a reserve in case there are any um, large unexpected costs of the district or changes in those funding sources or delays and remittances in those funding sources. Uh, I'd caution against getting too big on that general fund fund balance. Typically, um, you know, 3 to six months is probably three is probably a good, uh, target for a school district because you get your state aids, your federal aids, they typically come in monthly, like you get a a draw every month. Um, you know, we for our cities and towns, we look at six months because property taxes

053come in every six months apart. Um, you get too much bigger than that, people are going to start to ask me, why are you taxing the money that you don't seem to need, you're not using. So I would say I wouldn't get too bigger too much bigger than six months, three months, anything more than three months, you're you could find yourself um the deficit fund balance if there were a large expense that does come up. So um I don't know if I'm answering your question or if I'm just rambling now. >> No, you are. And you hit on a different point on um the fund. Oh, I'm getting to you. I got you. Hang on. There was something in there. We're talking about how we had a draw down the funds. When you see school

054districts that cut it a little bit closer on the fund balance, I just need to more don't name schools, but how many schools are starting to borrow when they run too tight of a fund balance and how that's a good question, too. I don't think this board's been part of borrowing money for short-term things. So it's just it's trying to reassure the clarity of why we're focusing on keeping the fund balance we have. And I just want to understand how this is written. This is a good narrative right here. This variance of the future. Yeah. And so you know you have some options for short-term borrowing and tax anticipation certificates where you basically get a somebody will pay you money or give you money up and then you're going to collateralize your next tax remittance

055or something. Uh those things are you want to avoid. I I feel like you want to avoid those. It's not a good way to operate because you can pay interest on that. So, you're just paying for money that you're going to get anyways in a few months. Um, so I say short-term borrowing. I don't have any clients that use it. None. Um, and typically they are very cognizant of their of their fund balance and their expenditures. I do have some districts that are looking at that general fund fund balance and what that right level should be. Yeah. They're facing um price increases not only from uh their personnel but just about everything purchase services, supplies, materials. Um and how can they how can they continue to provide services that they want with class sizes and

056um nice facilities without without having to go back to the voters and ask for more money. Um and most of them are going out for an operating referendum because things are getting so expensive. Um so so but what they're doing in that meantime is they're willing to spend down some of that fund balance um you know through deficit spending more expenditures than you have revenues coming in uh to bridge that gap until hopefully that operating operating referendum goes through or there's some new source from the state or federal government to help cover these increases costs. So then I'm almost done. This is the last question is an item you talked about. I'm going to call it the team workload is more you call about internal controls. Is there really districts that can have an appropriate

057sized um let's call it the the office staff. Like that just seems >> Yeah, there are >> how you're saying it, but it just doesn't seem like the flavor of this town. Yeah. >> So, you're I'm getting that you're somewhat pretty impressed how Hutch has handled themselves over the year with the size of the team. >> Yeah, I would agree. I I would say, you know, you you do have a a smaller office staff and and really that that finding on internal control that segregation of duties is you you have some people in that limited office staff that are wearing more than one hat, if you will, in that accounting process. So, uh, we really want to see it segated from who has the authority to, um, use the district's assets, who has the custody

058of those assets, and who does the record keeping of those assets. Um, and with a smaller staff, you might have the person who's preparing the checks, also the person putting in your general ledger. Um, and when you when you have that, they have the ability, not that they would, that they be motivated to, but they have the ability to to commit fraud and cover it up, and it can go unnoticed. Um, so that's why it's it's considered a deficiency and just in the the design of the of the of the controls for the process, >> but you're basing that off of the size of the district. >> No, it's it's universal across all >> all entities. So, >> okay. >> So, even though you're a smaller, well, relatively smaller district compared to some of your

059counterparts. Um, it it it may not be worthwhile to add staff or or even outsource part of your accounting function to eliminate that that deficiency. Understood. All right. >> I'm going to ask one question. Sorry. >> Oh, Danny just >> Danny's been waiting. Um, but on the same subject, I of course am not concerned, but since we have this limited staff there and you said there's a opportunity for fraud, which is why we get notice that that is a deficiency, >> right? we would be able to figure that out next year when you come and you audit. Correct. >> Yeah. I mean, you could you could rework some of your processes, add people into that process. Uh it's really just a lot of times it comes with that cost benefit. Now, if you want to

060add another person or two people with salaries, benefits, do you have to space for them? Um or um just be aware of it, be cognizant of it, and continue to review your processes that you have in place to mitigate any potential risk. I'm sure some of you probably heard from our auditors. We always, you know, part of our audit is we ask about fraud within the district. You know, we talk usually somebody at the employee level, the administration level, and then probably won't at the governance level probably got asked these questions. I'm sure I've asked some of the these questions in the past um just to see uh what risk you see from your level related to fraud. We do the same thing with people within the district. What do they see are are risk

061related to fraud? you know, we haven't had any glaring red flags thrown up saying, "Hey, this is an easy way you could steal and not get caught." So, it it tells me that while some people may have the ability uh to commit that fraud, it the review process and and the kind of that chain of command of your assets is being followed to a point where somebody were, it would get caught somewhere along the line. Okay? Granted, it's it's always better to prevent it than try to catch it, but something's better than nothing. Well, and let me assure the public and the two people here that are not on the finance committee, there are a lot of questions that get asked at every finance meeting when we're looking through the 100page list of bills. So,

062we are doing our part as a board to mitigate that, too. >> And Minnesota Department of Education clearly did their job this past year with 10 audits. So, good job to the district office for taking care of you and 10 other audits. >> Yeah, I know we're not the only ones. >> Are you sure you don't got another question? >> I got 100 pages. I got lots of questions. >> Mine's a two-part question for you and Becky. >> Yeah. >> So, since you've been doing the auditing, how many deferrals has the state done to the district? >> Deferred like their payments like you were talking. >> Oh, cash it. >> Yep. >> Every year. We do it every single year. Okay. Yeah. Is there standard operating procedure >> to add to that? I would say

063that not only that, but right now it's is it 9010? >> I I >> I've seen 8020. I've seen maybe 7030, 6040. That means they're holding back that much of our money until they pay it back to us. That's in the bad times. Right now it's 9010. But that's why you want that fund balance because otherwise you are going to be doing a lot of >> um a lot of borrowing >> and paying interest. So it can get way worse if the state gets way worse and they can't they can't get their books to go. They will hold more back from cities, counties, and school districts to get their books to go. >> Danny, >> do you know there's money hiding in here from like 20 years ago from the state? >> That's why I

064was trying to ask him about this tax shift. So now I got to go back and reread it. >> Seriously, I don't know what page it's on, but there's some money hiding back here. [clears throat] >> Let's go dissect it later. >> Squeeze it out. [laughter] >> Just [snorts] saying. >> You guys good? >> All right. Thank you, sir. >> Hey, thank you very much. >> All right. With all that being said, is there a motion? Well, I'm going to stop. Don't say anything. Miss Bowl, would you like to add any more to this? >> No, just thank you, Justin, for the partnership. >> Okay. Is there a motion to accept the audit as presented? >> So moved. >> Motion by Miss Bman, second by Olstead. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say

065I. >> I. >> Uh the report was accepted. Thank Oh, they're gone. On to the employee weather hand or employee weather policy handbook. Mr. Diaz. Yes, we uh wanted to get this in before we see well I can't say I haven't seen any snow because I guess I saw a little teeny tiny bit falling but before any real significant snow or delays were to happen. We've done this handbook before and uh we I would say made a very big effort at making a chart that was more comprehensive as to trying to lay out with ESST and e-learning and all the different possibilities with the different groups as to what their responsibilities and functions would be on a weather delay. And so I don't know if there's any questions that anybody has. I will say with

066the e-learning because I know that's come up. We did start with a bigger uh committee and then that committee was uh was reduced down further so we could get more work done. Um Ann Rasmmanson uh was there from uh West. Joselyn Buckington was there. I don't know, she's probably high school and middle school, but districtwide kind of to help us. Uh Macy McDonald uh was there from Tiger. Renee A was there from Tiger. Agri Odilius was there. She's our special ed coordinator. And then Jen Mandat represented the elementary principles and Mike Scott and myself were on those on on that committee. >> All right. >> Uh just a couple questions. Um e-learning closures. [snorts] >> Um paragraph two. If too large of a percentage of staff are unable to work on e-learning closures, the school

067district will re-evaluate the effectiveness. What is the percent? That is unreasonable. That's a really great question, Mike. Um, I I don't know. I I mean, I know, but I I'm not sure I can say until we haven't had one of these yet where we've actually had so enough staff gone that we couldn't, but um I think we are going to re-evaluate it after the first one and decide kind of what how it went and what we saw. Do you want to add to that? I just think that I I don't know if it's going to be certain. We will we will know when we do it. If we evaluate that um 5% or 7% or 10% if we can't uh meet the goals of being able to educate the students this way, then we're going

068to know it really soon that there's a number of staff that are not able to to work on that day or are putting in leave time. And we're going to know pretty quickly that day that this whether it's been workable or not, workable, practical, desirable to keep doing it. So I think it's going to be evaluated as we do that. I I don't know 50% obviously would be too much. Is 10% too much too. Uh some days we have that right now functioning within our our school building for example. We may have 40 staff uh gone uh at various times of the day and are still able to function. But I don't know if that's the case with e-learning because it's just so much more complex. >> Um, further in that paragraph, it says how

069equitable these days are for students. So when we're taking a percent of staff, are we separating out what staff are not present? For example, if it's going to be equitable, if we have 25% of pair of professionals who serve as one-on-one or twoon-one students, >> is that going to be taken into account? >> The whole thing is going to be taken into account, all staff, >> but are we going to look at all staff as a percent of total staff or are we going to look at all staff as a percent of their position and their studentto staff ratio? Well, I think we need to look at total staff, but then we do need to look at those individual categories. Is that what you're asking? Because if we have if we have students left behind

070because of high attendance that are individually being left behind, that could be in the special ed world, um they also then didn't get what they needed individually. So, I see it as both. Again, we didn't really have one of these, so we're we're kind of still waiting. I'm hoping not to have any actually, but we're still waiting to see how that's going to pan out. But we had a lot of discussions. I just don't know that we've had one to do a good analysis of it. Would you agree, Mike? >> I think we're going to again going to have to see the first one that we have. If we do, um even if it's um let's say it's 10 certain staff members aren't there, is that that might be too much? We're not going to

071know um until we get together as an admin team and say how did this go? How many did you have absent at this elementary building? How many did you have ab and was it workable or not? And and those different variables based on the age of of the students. But um I think as we assess the first day, we're going to know pretty quickly um how workable, practical, desirable it's going to be. One thing we have, you know, if if special ed kids aren't getting what other kids are getting, then you have what's called compensatory services that has to be rendered and we really don't want to get into that whole situation where we're trying to make up time that we don't have time to make up but have to somehow figure it out. So

072that's all going to be taken into account and I think the staff, if they don't know, they they will because I did say it last year is we're not afraid to look at those numbers and do something if we need to to not get ourselves into a situation. So, >> okay. Um, only two more questions. Um, what percent of special ed pair professionals are bringing home a device every day of the school year so that they are e-learning ready at home? >> I'm not sure there's very many special I I do not have that number, but I did ask Nick Schmidt what happens. do we have enough devices for our paras to bring home so they can do the e-learning from home? And he said yes. It would be a situation similar to the the

073students who would find out that day and they would then go and get their own device to bring home as well just like the students would be given a device to bring home. >> So they would find out the day before that there's going to be an e-learning day the following day. >> Yes. >> Possibility. >> How often does that h how often do we call school the day before? Uh well they well then we that's that's the other thing that's in here is if we don't get those devices home it's going to revert to packets >> for for the K3. If those devices don't make it home and we call a day it would revert to packets. >> So can I just skip over the perfect world and go straight to the fact that

074K through three is going to be packets on all e-learning days? Well, there are times when I have uh made those decisions soon enough that it's clear. There is a there's a a good possibility though that I cannot make the decision by 2:00 >> for teachers but not for >> well pair professionals they won't be able to service the students. So, we we talked about the fact that if we thought there was a possibility that there was going to be a day, we would send them and we would just have to let the teachers know by one or one I think it's 2:00 actually for elementary and we would take the we would send them in preparation for thinking the weather forecast looks like there could be a day >> and so would the paras

075then go get a device and bring it home because there's enough for them as well. But it's not going to be perfect because if I don't have that, if we don't have that inkling by two o'clock and something changes by six o'clock, we won't have devices sent home. >> Do we have packets that specifically meet the needs of special ed students in the situation that an e-learning day is called too late for devices and who will assist those students at home >> in lie of a paraprofessional? The special ed teachers are also going to be working on sending home the packets. We're just trying not to double up too much of everything for one student. So, we're trying to be careful not to. We have a lot of discussions about that. Um but just like

076um all the other students um the teachers still have to be available. The question is how, right? if they don't have a device or if if if the kids don't have a device, then they are more so being taught at home with whomever is there with them. But those teachers are supposed to be available by one means or another. But it's just a matter of whether anybody's going to reach out to that level and do that. I don't know if you have anything to add to that. >> Have we done anything I said two more questions, I lied. Have we done anything to adjust scheduling so that parents with multiple students aren't juggling different transitions, different meals, different breaks, different recess all day long? >> Uh well, in in there there's a schedule and Park

077is not with us on that schedule. Uh is not with Tiger and West on that schedule. They're on on their I mean they did not do this this particular thing with West and Tiger. they are on their own kind of thing. And so I would say Weston Tiger is similar. Park is something different and um middle school is not connected as far as I know to what the high schools doing. So I think there is some separation there but it's still going to be some overlap. Just to kind of answer your question, it's not going to be perfect. >> The last question I have is that we have a a percentage. Well, we don't have a percentage. We have the word percentage listed in the policy for staff. What percent of students don't have to

078attend for us to decide that this isn't effective? >> I guess uh we didn't we didn't really have a discussion about like what percentage of students would elect not to do e-learning. They would then revert to the packet and that would be their e-learning and they would then have to turn that in when they got back to school within a couple days. >> That's what we discussed. >> In the past on e-learning days, we saw significant increases in students being called out. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, that's the percentage I'm asking. What percentage aren't going to do the packet or e-learning before we say it's not effective? >> I don't know if we had that exact discussion just like that. Um, but they have to wait for I suppose then that'll be

079one of those things just like if teachers are and staff are participating. If it looks like there's kids not turning things in and not going online, then it's ineffective and it's not working. I don't think I have a percentage for you the way you're asking. But >> I do have a question. Doesn't the state have some sort of percentage of students that have to show up? Say you have a an outbreak of flu or something and you have 20% kids not show up in >> They don't really have a number. They don't have a number anymore. They used to, but it it's mostly due to sickness and health, not due to like weather type of thing. >> Okay. >> You good? >> Okay. All right. Moving on. Is there a motion to accept the weather

080handbook as presented? >> So move. >> Motion by Homestead. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Homestead. All in favor of the weather book say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. and whether a book passed. All right. On policy 902 W and 902F, this is our second reading. Any changes been made since? >> There were there were no changes to this. This is again um basically we are um making our gyms available for usage uh without custodial costs by a staff member that um would then be trained. >> Yeah. Is there a motion to accept the final rating of these two policies presented? >> Motion by Mossma. Is there a second? >> Second. [snorts] Jenowski gets that one. All right. All in favor say I. >> I. And the policy is passed.

081>> Hey, Garrett. >> Yes, sir. >> No, we just skipped the any discussion. And I have just one question. >> I I don't remember seeing either of these policies, but are all requests from organizations going to be submitted to the board for approval? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> And two are tonight. >> Yeah, >> I saw those. And then they have to wait a month before they can utilize this if they didn't do it tonight before the next board meeting. So they all have to go through the board first. >> Okay. >> The individual people though will be certified by us. >> Okay. Is that common of of districts that do this to bring it to the board rather than to the admin? >> Well, our attorney said that it needed to come and insurance

082company said it needed to come to the board so that those those groups are certified. >> So yeah. >> Thank you. Boss, by the way, can we just let that one pass or are you good >> or do you want to redo it? >> I mean, should follow the order. >> Yeah, we could. >> I'm kidding. >> All right, on to the policy 902F employee acknowledgement form. >> So, the these are the ones that have asked HYBA and um Hutch Youth Wrestling are the two organizations that came forward in time to ask for the for starting to do this. And if any other organizations need to, it'll have to be in December. So, we'll have to wait. Some are waiting because they don't need it till January, right? >> So, >> okay. Motion for the

083>> So moved. >> Thank you, Danny. Is there a [clears throat] second? >> Second, >> Miss Jenowski. All right. Discussion hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Same. The policy known 2F has passed. First reading policy 304 FMP. This is the superintendent evaluation D. >> Okay. Um, who's not the policy there for that one? >> The two of us. >> Okay. Do you guys need to want to say anything to that? >> I guess I would um encourage you to read through what we've done. We've put >> a lot of time and effort into rewriting this and we're very happy with how it has turned out. Um there are several areas in which um our superintendent will be reviewed, but we also have three add-on ones um review. So for instance, if

084we're trying to pass a levy um that would be there would be a way to review, but we don't need that every year. So that would be one we would decide to add on to the superintendent's review. So go ahead and read. We've we've done a lot of work and um but ask us if you have any questions over the course of the month. Thanks. >> All right. Is there a motion to accept the first reading of these policies? >> So moved. >> Motion by Miss Bowman. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Kowski. [clears throat] Any further discussion? >> I just want to say for five and a half years we've been talking about revising policy 304. Um we have done a terrible job of doing it. And so to Sarah's point and to

085the work of um Aaron and Diane, spend time reading it and refine it between now and next month. Uh this is the highest paid employee in the district. And the review in the past has looked more similar to uh maybe a McDonald's worker or or a retail worker. Um so put some thought into it because it needs to be refined. Then there's also the opportunity to make a comment if you wanted to explain why you selected one rating versus another. So at the bottom of each question, there's the opportunity to make that comment. So I hope that'll clear things up, too. >> All right. Hearing no other discussion, all in favor of the reading, say I. >> I. I. >> Same. All right. Policy passed. Superintendent update. Mr. It's >> okay. Uh I have been

086able to get out to Park West Tiger and the middle school over the last five weeks to do some visits and to connect with kids and and staff and that has gone very well. I will be going to the high school this Friday and spending some time there. So, I've made it. And then I do want to get out to TAP as well. Um theirs is a little trickier, but I do want to get out there. They do some things during the day, so you have to go at the right time to kind of be part of all that. So, that's part of uh what I've been doing over the last uh four or five weeks. Um over the past month, Julie from Teamworks has been conducting in-person meetings with middle school and high school

087students, staff, parents, and the community for our strategic planning. And the groups discussed their daily desired experiences in our school district. And then the planning committee got together to look at what they wrote and we sort of helped make it into surveys. Um those surveys went out very recently to staff and students, but students grades six through 12 and then families. And so those are those are out right now, I believe, and people have a chance to uh reflect on those. And there will be a meeting then again with the planning committee coming up. And also uh before the next schoolboard meeting um on 11:19 uh the planning committee will get together and look at those survey results and then they can start to kind of get those into a formation of what we're looking

088at moving forward. So that's kind of an update on the on the strategic planning. Also recently I attended my advanced leadership conference. I actually only have this month online next month for an hour and then December and then that'll be um that'll be like 18 month or about 18 months of that. It's been wonderful. this last uh couple a couple weeks ago, we met we talked about how to avoid staff burnout and we all know that there's a lot going on in people's lives, including our students, um parents, community, everybody, right, has a lot going on, but specifically how to avoid uh staff burnout. I won't get into everything. It was way longer. Uh but some of the ways that they talked about were um having control. Full control means you can change and improve

089a situation's outcome. Give employees autonomy and choices, even if they're small ones, to create sense of control and reduce the feelings of helplessness. Predictability helps us to know when things will happen, how long they will last. Progress, celebrating small wins, and recognizing achievements. Uh stress reducing outlets, things that people choose to do to reduce their stress, whether it be exercise or anything, reading. And then social support, making sure as a leader, scheduling regular check-ins and ensuring that no one is being left behind. Those were just some of the things we talked about. And with that, talking about uh what we talked about tonight, I would say like celebrating small wins and recognizing achievements. We talked about how well the audit's gone. And I this is my fourth audit and I've never seen anything that's really

090had any kind of red flag in our audits. This is being run very well in our district office. And I do think that we have a smaller staff compared to some district offices of districts our size. And so I want to applaud them for that. Uh also the um district office has been working very hard on Minnesota paid leave as you know probably that starts on January 1st. There's a lot of things that go into this Minnesota paid leave and so um they've been doing a great job and we are set up to be ready for January 1. Um there's some things between now and then that still are going to happen but we have the we have the uh the the outline ready to go as far as to what needs to happen and

091that will happen. I'm confident of that. I also want to thank our staff in the district for stepping up every single day to sub within our buildings. If we didn't have our teachers and people subbing within our buildings, we would never be able to cover all the openings that come up because there's not enough subs in the first place. So, they step up and they help us with that. And also, um I want to congratulate the students, directors, crew, and pit orchestra again for the water for elephants uh play. I did go to it and it it was excellent. It was three hours long, but it didn't really feel like three hours. Um, and so with the one that I went to, I really applaud the actors because they had to stop. Did anybody go

092to Saturday night? They had to stop because the lights weren't working right. And they had to go back and start over. Kind of start over. And that had to be a little bit unnerving, but um that was that was pretty um awesome to see him come back on and just act like that never really happened. So that was great. And then I just want to wish our students good luck as they begin winter activities and say happy Thanksgiving to everybody because before we meet again we'll have Thanksgiving. Thank you. >> Thanks Dan Scott. >> All right. Uh some district highlights that were sent in by administrators and and staff. So thank you to all the staff in the special education department and also Tiger principal Jen Mandia who volunteered their time to make the fall

093festival on October 30th a success. So, thank you to all of those involved. Um, current openings, um, just listing those up there for you, the public, if they're able to see that. I know it's small. It's on our district website. Um, lots of openings all the way through from starting right now till things that might be some spring activities. Um, so again, just check out our our district website to continue to um, see if there's any interest in any of these positions. And again, I think I've said it before that there uh we could be as creative as possible to make a position work because some time is better than no time if uh there's certain days that people can work. We've been a little flexible with that um because of such a shortage of

094of people applying. So, um the bus company also is hiring bus drivers. So, and we usually don't um advertise for other uh companies, but they are definitely directly tied to us and our bus drivers. We have a contract with them. So, um they're hiring bus drivers. So, if anybody's interested in that to certainly give Superior a call as well. Um on Friday, October 24th, uh the middle school had a pumpkin pooa activity. They had um open gym, dancing, photo booth. There were 177 students who attended. So, that sound looks like a really great turnout. Uh they wanted to um just thank all the member volunteers here. Jeff Schmidt, Lauren Reeves, Josyn Bucket, Kelly Hagstrom, Rebecca Lloyd McDonald, Mike McDow, Allison Fairborn, Erica Tilman, Jessica Compost, Tony Klein, and Christina Docer for volunteering their time to

095make that a success. Um, and you'll notice on these slides there's a lot of narrative because I have a few that were pictures, but because Tina is always the one that beautifies all of these. Um, I put all the slides. I think all the slides are all all accurate, but the reason why there's not all the all the pictures is because I do better with typing the words. So, uh, but hope hopefully the thank you is uh is just the same. So, uh, middle school reach students were helping at West Elementary, uh, to put wood chips around the playground on October 31st and wanted to appreciate their hard work, um, and service, uh, to the students at West for them to help over their with their time. Uh, I know Mr. Cheetah talked about this

096already, so um, I will we can congratulate the, uh, Tiger Sharks for qualifying for state, but I know he mentioned that earlier tonight, so good luck to them. Um, and these two students, Shelby Swanson, uh, class of 2024, and Rachel Vistister, class of 23, uh, received their American FFA degree here at the National Convention. So, I know that they were, uh, two two students who have already graduated, but FFA is an organization that you still can continue to partake and um, they received the highest degree. So, congratulations to them. Um, Dan mentioned this as well. Congratulations to the cast, crew, musicians, and directors of the Water for Elephants on their outstanding performance. And there are a few pictures here >> that I was able to to do. >> I think he had I texted Mr.

097Olsen, the the director, and I I know that he had a an outstanding um audience participation as well that that attended. So, it's really high numbers. So, thank you for everybody that also attended our community. And that is all of those updates. Just a couple other things I was able to uh Jen Mandia and I the Tiger principal along with five teachers from Tiger and West visited North Side Elementary in St. James uh last Tuesday to see their English language arts curriculum Witten Wisdom. They've had about 40 different around 40 different school districts around the state go and visit St. James Elementary School because they've adopted and implemented um a curriculum called Witten Wisdom. It's the one and only knowledge building resource and this that MDE said has got um fully full approval for that.

098Um so we went and looked at that. We're going to be talking to the leadership team this week about some next steps in our in our ELA curriculum for for K3. Um preliminary planning for January 19th PD day has been has been set. Um, I sent that out last Friday, just a survey of interest to for staff about what they might want to see as professional development and if any uh staff are interested in hosting anything for that morning. Um, and then this week, I kind of mentioned this uh previous board meeting um a little bit um intimated to it, but a nonprofit organization called Heart of America is going to be here at Hudson High School on November 13th um in collaboration with 3M um and representatives from 3M high school staff. I'm Jen

099Tleski, our principal, Andrew Moore, Tiger Path Coordinator, technology education teachers, um and Dan and me and Justin Tennic. and they're they're going to come in and just look at our our tech area and see if there's any thing that we can do to strengthen just the layout, the way that things are set up um in order for access. And and they're a nonprofit organization that kind of has interior design type things that to make it um more manageable for students or anything that they showed us some other things they've done in some other school districts. So, we're going to hear what they have to say uh with the input of the people that I just mentioned to see what might be possible and we want to thank them for and 3M for um keeping Hudson

100High School at the in in mind when we're looking at those things. So, any of those suggestions will be collaborative and we'll see what they have to offer this week. And so, those are just some of the top things that we haven't put in already in our highlights that come to you um every week. So, if you have any questions otherwise that's it. Thank you. >> Nice job. Thank you for not using a thousand words to describe a picture. >> Thank you. >> All right. On American Education Week, Dan, is that just you and Oh, there you are. Good evening everybody. American Education Week is next week. Um, and this year's theme takes us back to the 90s. Like totally, we appreciate you. So throughout the week, I will be honoring all employees of ISD

101423 with a fun '9s twist and a variety of snacks each day. Thanks to contributions from the district office, eh, and HESP, these treats are made possible. So next week will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge our dedicated staff. >> Yes. Thank you. And I think that >> I was so happy when she said she was going to do that. I was trying to figure out how to say totally in the right way. I was ask Eric to do it, but I knew he wouldn't want to either. So, >> no, I don't think it >> Thank you for saving us. >> No, I think that even from all of us, even on the board, it is appreciation to all staff members of all group. We just talked about a little bit ago, there's

102a lot of people involved in these students lives. So, huge appreciation. All right, we are moving on to the school building refunding bond. I don't know why we use refunding, but we'll move on. >> Hi, my lady. >> Hello. >> You have the microphone. >> So, I know you guys talked about this at your schoolboard work session on the 27th, but we said we would come back with a little bit more information, including some more details and updated estimates. So, you should have a link to the pre-sale report as well as the resolution. I'll start with some highlights from the pre-sale report. [clears throat] So overall comment um refunding bonds are similar to refinancing a home mortgage but in the public finance world they call it refunding and one other difference is that you can't

103keep the savings for your district's budget. So the savings must be passed on to your taxpayers in the form of reduced property tax levies which is always great news for the taxpayers. So we'll go through the uh starting on page one a little bit about the issue. Um the uh resolution that you have before you will authorize 31.5 million in refunding bonds. We as of right now not all of the maturities qualify for savings. So we've been talking about a partial refunding and that's what we are still looking at at this point in time. Although we had a couple of issues uh about a month or so ago when rates came down a little bit and we were able to refund all the maturities. So we will absolutely continue to monitor that and that's why

104we want you to authorize the full amount just in case some more of the maturities will result in some savings. So in the purposes you'll see that we are um targeting the 27 through 35 maturities. There are maturities on your existing issue that go through 2041. So those as of right now are not a part of the um of the savings. Those maturities that we are scheduled to refund have interest rates of three and a half to 5%. We're thinking that the true interest cost would be right around 3%. And that we're showing savings now based upon estimates from last week of right around $200,000. Um you'll notice at the bottom of page one that we um will have a couple of maturities that will be callable again. So, because this issue goes nine years,

105we'll be able to we would be able to refinance the last two maturities in the future on uh by February 1st of 2023. And that's about $4 million of principal on those on those last two bonds. Um on page two, um you'll participate in the state credit enhancement program. There's no charge to participate in that program and um it does get you that high rating from booties. They will give you a double A1 credit enhanced rating. The highest rating that they have is a AAA. That is what our state of Minnesota currently has right now. So the credit enhanced rating is just one notch below that. Your district rating is double A3 which is also a nice high rating. And we will go through the rating process again to um ask them to hopefully affirm

106that rating. You'll notice that we are moving forward with a competitive bond sale just like we always have and always do for you. and we're expecting to get a premium bid, which is an amount above the par amount of the bonds. And I'll show you kind of how that plays out in the financial schedules, too. On page three, we reference the parameters resolution, which is set up right now with a minimum estimated future value savings amount of $100,000. That just gives us some flexibility because the market has been pretty pretty volatile lately. So, it gives us some flexibility to keep an eye on that and then move forward when we know that we can achieve at least that minimum value of savings. Uh we always are looking at your outstanding bonds and letting you know

107if you have refunding maturity. So this is the only one that makes uh sense moving forward with at this point in time. And then we've got a couple other regulatoratory items. On page three, continue disclosure and arbitrage monitoring. On page four, we mentioned that we will invest the bond proceeds between the closing date and when you need to call the old bonds. And we're expecting to earn about $60,000 on that investment. So short-term rates are pretty high. So that works in your favor on the investment of the money that would be in an escro account. And then we'll be working with uh bond council who drafted the resolution before you tonight. We'll draft all the legal documents. That's Kennedy and Graven. Bond trust services as paying agent. Moody's is the rating agency. And then Zans's

108Bank Corp would be the escro agent holding the funds between closing and calling your old bonds. Page five then gives you the schedule. So, tonight uh the pre-sale report and the parameters resolution, we will be drafting an official statement, going through that and um having a conference at the rating agency, distributing the official statement, and then we plan to take bids on December 4th, assuming the market's cooperating at that point in time, and that would bring those results to you at your regular meeting of December, um close December 30th, and then call your bonds on the call date of February 1st of 2026. The financial schedules are attached. You'll see page six is a sources and uses with the large premium of almost 1.6 million. That's an estimate. It won't be exactly that amount. Um,

109but then uh that is used to pay off some of the principal on your old bonds. And ultimately, we want to get to the amount that you need to call your existing bonds, whether it's the partial or a few more maturities or full or full uh refunding. Page seven is your existing debt service. So that's where you can see the interest rates associated with each maturity. So they are different for each principal maturity. We talk about an overall interest rate just like we do with home mortgages, but know that for municipal bonds, each one has um its own interest rate associated with it. And um important to note the 2027 and 28 maturities have 5% rates. So, um, certainly we would be able to get rates lower than that for those short-term numbers. And that's

110why we still think even though the market has moved a little bit, we still think it makes sense to refund and take advantage of not paying at those higher rates any longer. Uh, page six is what we expect the debt service schedule to look like. Page seven, I'm sorry, let's see here. Page seven was the existing debt service. Page eight is what we expect the new debt service schedule to look like. Page nine is the escro account where we're expecting to earn about $63,000 or $62,000 in interest. And then page 10 shows you the comparison of your existing debt service, the new debt service, and the savings. And you'll see that we are focusing the savings starting with uh the 2020 2033 maturity and that is because you have another drop down in your tax

111rate at that point in time with some debt that's being paid off. So, we're actually paying off principal more quickly in those years leading up to that, saving some more interest for your taxpayers, and then giving you more flexibility at the time when you have a drop down in your debt anyway, and giving some future capacity hopefully at a time when the district might um need to move forward with something. So, uh that is the way we have the the the debt set up and the structure set up. And again, you'll see that savings right now at about 200,000. rates [clears throat] did tick down just a little bit at the end of last week and if we do seize an end to the shutdown hopefully then rates will settle back down too. I think

112the Federal Reserve people seem to be indicating that it's very difficult for them to make a decision without the economic data that they're used to seeing. So I think the market was worried that they may not move forward with another cut in December and that's what caused rates to go back up. So certainly if the shutdown ends and we get some indications that they may reduce rates again in December that would be very helpful. That's everything I have questions from anyone. And uh when you take a look at the resolution I can certainly answer any questions you have on that too. >> Okay we'll take a pause there. Anything you guys want this brought back up on the screen [clears throat] the header from it or from the You guys are good. All right. There's

113no questions. All right. This will be a roll call. So, is there a motion to accept um the resolution as presented? >> Motion. >> A motion by Mr. Mstead. Is there a second? >> Second by Mossman. Uh any discussion? All right. Roll call vote. Mr. Mstead. >> I. >> Luans. I. Jenowski. >> I. >> Mossman. >> Hi. Miss Bowman. >> I >> All right. Resolution pass 5-0. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on. Uh, next month we are going to be um doing the semiealuation for Superintendent Dia. So, as part of getting ready our evaluation process, and that's going to take place close session post December 8th at the school board meeting. All right, on to the committee reports. Uh Dan, I need you to start us off

114with the negotiation update. >> Yeah, sorry, I forgot to get the negotiation update. So, um for HESP, uh the district administration, school board negotiators, and HESP have been meeting regularly. Uh the last meeting was on October 23rd where um we've had a committee a subcommittee for seniority talking about how to structure the seniority language. Uh we talked about that the placement committee of how when um staff are being hired, how that takes place. We had that uh subcommittee on November 3rd, so just a couple days last week. And then the district responded to Hess counter proposals from the 10625 meeting. And this was all in 10:23. We responded [snorts] to their uh proposals from 106 and then uh we added a third meeting onto the already two meetings that we have. And so the next

115meetings that we have are um coming up on 11 uh let's see 11:13 which is just this week Thursday and then 121 and 12:15. and we are going to continue to try to make progress and see if we can um get a little closer together with our proposals. So, that's kind of where we're at with Hess Local 284. Uh similar, we've exchanged proposals and we uh responded to them when we met on October 21st. And so um basically we are now going to be meeting um 11:14 which is uh this Friday. So we meet with H this Thursday and local 284 on Friday and then 11:25 and 1219. So we're just in the middle of going back and forth and trying to come together with our proposals. >> Thanks D. All right, Jenowski, educator license

116update. Uh we did have our meeting. Um we go through all the uh continuing education for the teachers and it went well. There wasn't quite as many of them to do as there have been uh in the past and we will be meeting again soon. So there's nothing really other than that to report. >> All right. Um you don't get to go away yet. Uh who wants to do facilities? You want to carry it on? Sure. Let's see. >> So, um facilities, um we went through the windows. We're still having some windows, uh leaking. Some of it has been figured out pretty well. Um but we're still dealing with that. There's a discussion on who's going to who's going to have to pay for that and between the installers and the the um the manufacturer

117and the construction company or whatever. So, that's still we're still working on that. Some of these cannot be cleaned. It's just we're still working on it. So, let's see. Uh park had all the infills done and the cocking done minus four windows which is pretty much the old office at park. Um let's see facility rental. Um you heard about that. That's where we have uh the facilities that are being used. we have um had somebody like a coach or something like that who's already a district employee is signing so that they don't have to pay additional fees to rent that. But then um that all had to go to the to the lawyer because we want to make sure that if they're signing something that they're going to make sure everything's done right that that's

118all in place. So that should be in place. As you already heard, uh, HYBA and wrestling is ready to sign that. Let's see. Um, uh, deicing. Uh, we're working on that so that we can do that ahead of time. So, we're going to try to do a rental or try to do a pre pre-treatment, but one, we're not trying to buy anything before we find out if that's going to work or not. [clears throat] Let's see. There's some work needed on the pool at the middle school. So, that's that has that's going to come in the spring because we want to make sure everything is done with that before we go and go for that. Um, let me see. Uh, some of our playgrounds need some work to make those accessible. So, we're still working

119on on things like that. Uh, especially first one we thought about was uh kindergarten. Um, so the accessibility for the kids to get to the various equipment has been a problem. So, we're working on that. Also, the first grade playground and the second and third grade playgrounds. Um, uh, the if they're going to do like a poured in place kind of thing, it's a surface that they can use for the wheelchairs. That's very, very expensive. So, we're trying to find something that's a good product that will be reasonably priced and I believe that's about it. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Off to finance. Men, >> um we discussed the uh revenues and expenses over the past month. Um currently we're at 70 17% in our revenues and 22% in our expenses for the

120year. And it's another uh point to highlight. This is why we have a fund balance of 28% to cover us in these times when we have more expenses than we have in um revenue. Um and then of course we went through questions regarding revenues, expenses, and all of the uh bills. >> Thank you. Uh, does anyone have anything from park and wreck for Aaron to speak to or I don't know if somebody looking at you, Miss Sarah? Just cuz usually one of you two know something over there >> cuz you guys always take the committee. >> Yeah. The only >> none of us can get on it. It's like >> the only thing I can think of right now is that the new books have gone out and um they are looking at replacing Park

121Elementary's um playground um because it is the year in which it needs to be replaced. >> Wow, that was smooth. >> There you go. >> All right, technology. or who said >> so the opt training publication for October was 40.3% of people did it um there was a nice outage with Google last month so the school kind of had problems accessing some some stuff for most of the day um that was pretty much it >> okay So, why you guys keep testing us if we're at all? >> Hey, man. We got to make sure that you're not opening up those dumb emails. >> Oh, you guys send a lot. >> I'll send We'll send more. >> Yeah. All right. That's it. And our next slew of meetings is up on the board and I will

122take a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mossman, second by Olstead. >> Any further? All in favor say I. I. >> I. Meeting journed.